After Milner came on the field, he did not dare to work too hard because he had just returned from injury and was worried about the recurrence of the injury. In addition, he was an offensive player and his defense was poor. As a result, loopholes began to appear in Liverpool's midfield defense, and Liverpool was eager to score an equalizer. Tok City launched a fierce attack and almost penetrated the city.
In addition to Milner's defensive weakness, other players also began to have some concerns, fearing that they would follow in the footsteps of Coutinho and Lovren, and their defensive hardness would decrease. For a while, the situation seemed a bit passive.
Fortunately, with Willard's generous running and the blocking by the defender and goalkeeper, Stoke City was not allowed to score in the end.
After 2 minutes of stoppage time, the first half ended. The two sides entered the halftime break with a score of 0-1. Liverpool, playing away, temporarily led by one goal.
At halftime, Klopp did not criticize everyone's timid mentality in the second half of the first half, because this is human nature. Any team that injures two players in a row in the first half will inevitably put a psychological burden on other teammates.
Fortunately, Velarde is the latest to join, so he has no problem with his physical fitness, and his physique and injury resistance are also very high. Therefore, Klopp's order was to abandon the high-pressing strategy in the second half and shrink the defense. Velarde filled in the position in time and used the numerical advantage to hold on to the 1-0 score.
At the same time, if there is a chance, it would be better if Willard launches a counterattack and scores another goal to seal the victory.
This is the semi-finals, and we will soon enter the finals to compete for the championship, and it is impossible to give up.
Therefore, if we can win 2-0 away from home in the first round, leading by two goals and scoring two away goals, it will basically kill the suspense of the second round and greatly reduce the physical and psychological burden of the second round.
Klopp was quite flexible and did not cling to his high-position pressing tactics. His instructions in the second half were quite correct. Liverpool, whose formation was significantly reduced in defense, took advantage of the numerical advantage in the backcourt and Willard's full-field coverage defense. , barely withstood Stoke City's crazy counterattack.
Stoke City, which had been unable to score for a long time, began to become a little impatient, making bigger moves and committing frequent fouls.
The confrontation in the Premier League itself is relatively fierce. If the opponent intensifies the intensity of the confrontation, Liverpool, which is already full of wounded soldiers and under great psychological pressure, gradually becomes unable to withstand it.
In the 67th minute, Milner did not dare to take off when faced with an air ball. Stoke City midfielder Anautovic jumped up and headed the ball to his teammate. Stoke took the opportunity to launch an away game. After a wave of offensive, forward Bo Yang finally received the ball and shook off Kolo Toure and formed a shot.
The ball was played very resolutely and with high quality, and it went straight to the blind corner of the goal. Goalkeeper Mignolet had already raised his hands in surrender, and the Stoke City home fans in the stands had stood up and were about to raise their hands and cheer, but the ball hit the post with a "bang" and bounced into the small penalty area. He was kicked out of the penalty area by Liverpool defender Klein and made a clearance.
There were regular sighs in the stands, and Bo Yang, who was about to raise his hands in celebration, also held his head in his hands, feeling quite frustrated. As long as the ball is slightly deflected inward, it will go in.
pity.
However, Stoke City's offense did not stop just because the ball was missed.
And Villard had to go all out and exhaust his physical strength to fill positions for his teammates or engage in fierce head-on collisions with opponents.
In the 74th minute, Willard collided with the home team's midfielder Glenn Whelan while grabbing the ball. Glenn Whelan fell directly to the ground, clutching his chest and screaming in pain. Willard also felt uncomfortable. He was hit by the opponent's elbow in the ribs. He also suffered from pain for a while, but was not injured.
In the 79th minute, Stoke City took a corner kick. Willard and the opponent's center back Shawcross competed for the top, and their heads collided in the air. Although the opponent did not score a goal, Willard felt uncomfortable and had a lump on his forehead.
Of course, Shawcross was even worse. His forehead was broken and bleeding, and he had to be substituted.
Velarde's 91-inch physique comes with injury resistance, which indeed allows him to avoid many injuries. After it is increased to the full value of 100, I am afraid that there will be no more injuries on the court.
Even now, seeing Velarde's strong physical fitness and confrontation ability, Stoke City players began to avoid collisions with Velarde.
It's not that they are timid, it's mainly that they can't win a collision, and it's useless to fight with Willard head-on!
More importantly, Willard will not be fixed in one position or area. He will chase the ball wherever it is, and his physical advantage will become more prominent later in the game.
Finally, when the time came to the 87th minute and the game was about to end, Stoke City midfielder Afellay tried to pass a pass into the penalty area, but Willard saw through it, and he flew high and raised his leg to steal the ball. He intercepted the ball in the air, and then immediately kicked the ball to Firmino in the gap outside the penalty area.
Then, Willard started quickly without stopping, moved forward at high speed, and launched a counterattack.
Villard, Firmino, Lallana, and Jordan Ibido all fired arrows, successfully breaking through the Stoke City defense that was empty in the backcourt because the formation was too high, and finally Villard took a kick. After a wonderful pass from a through ball, Lallana slanted behind Stoke City's defense, forming a single counter-offside move and dribbling the ball into the penalty area.
Facing the goalkeeper Butland who attacked in front of him, Lallana did not take the credit, but decisively passed the ball across the ball. Firmino, who inserted in the middle, made a gesture to shoot, knocking down the goalkeeper who hurriedly counterattacked, but he lifted the ball. The ball missed with his feet.
Velarde, who rushed up from behind, did not expect Firmino not to shoot, but leaked the ball to him, which was a bit caught off guard. Fortunately, the reflexes and agility of his 91 consciousness were high enough, and the goalkeeper had already been knocked down by Firmino's false shot, leaving Willard facing a huge empty goal.
In the end, Willard awkwardly braked and pushed the ball towards the goal.
Goalkeeper Butland got up from the ground and rushed to the goal line to try to save. Defender Walscheid, who was returning to defense, rushed past Firmino in an attempt to save the ball on the goal line.
But they failed in the end, and the ball successfully crossed the goal line.
"Goooooooooooooooooooooooal..."
"The ball is in!"
"Willard scores again!"
"Goal for the second game in a row!"
"Liverpool leads Stoke City 2-0 away from home, basically sealing the victory. If Stoke City cannot get at least one goal back in the remaining time, the suspense of the second round will basically be killed. "
"In just two games, Willard has become Liverpool's biggest asset."
"Because Coutinho and Lovren were injured one after another, other Liverpool players were under considerable psychological pressure and were in poor condition. However, Willard was obviously not affected. Not only did he dare to fight against Stoke City players in defense, , played a huge role in the offense as always, and this time he received Firmino’s selfless pass and pushed the ball to score.”
"Liverpool has one foot in the EFL Cup final!"
